Ecuador - Part 1

I visited Ecuador in 2008, 2009 , 2010 and 20122. Espcially in 2008 and 2011 i spent most of the time for hunting tarantulas. Deailed information about the country and the spiders i found in 2008 and 2011 are published in the following edition of the Arachne Magazine:

Beginning of my first travel in 2008 was the biggest city of Ecuador : Guayaquil. But even though this area is home to more tan 2 million people it is possible to find tarantulas just a few km outside the city. Within the Bosque Protector Cerro Blanco it is possible to see a piece of dry forest which dominated the landscape before urbanisation. For information on the National Park click here: www.bosquecerroblanco.com/#

At the Bosque Protector Cerro Blanco i was able to find 3 different Theraphosidae spp. until now including two very large Pamphobeteus spp. .In this region the rainy season lasts from January until end of May. It is possible to find adult males around June and the females produce eggsac in September while in November these spiders prepare to molt.

These Pamphobeteus spp. do not use silk to close or protect its retreat beneath stones or tree roots. Furthermore these spiders can be observed with their eggsacs more than one meter outside their shelter at daytime. This is interesting because at the same habitat it is possible to find also a large species of Pepsis ( Tarantula wasp ), one of the natural enemies of these spiders.

Here a picture of the Pepsis sp. at Bosque Protector Cerro Blanco:

Habitat of these spiders

typical shelter beneath a tree:

Retreat beneath a stone:

Sometimes it was possible to find them in burrows , but that was rare

Pamphobeteus sp. with eggsac:

adult female Pamphobeteus sp.

( Foto donated by Jorge Penafiel )

adult male

( Photo donated by Jorge Penafiel )

juvenile

Pamphobeteus at the entrance of its retreat:

Within the same habitat it is possible to find another very large Pamphobeteus sp. These have a different type of hair and the adult males are also very different from+ the above mentioned Pamphobeteus sp. These large spiders are quite agressive.

adult female

adult male:

( Photo donated by Jorge Penafiel )

I was also able to find the adult male of a small Theraphosid species. Furthermore I took a picture of a small female Theaphosid, although i don`t know if the male and the female belong to the same species.

Adult ( old ) male of an unknown Theraphosid sp.

freshly molted adult male

( Photo donated by Jorge Penafiel )

female spider:

There are also more mygalomorph spiders at the Bosque Protector. It is possible to find many Linothele cf macrothelifera between trees roots

Linothele cf. macrothelifera:

A Nemesidae sp. can be found in burrows

Nephila clavipes is common in this area too

These lizards can be found in high numbers within the habitat of the Pamphobeteus sp. so that it is possible that might be a major prey of these spiders.

After Guayaquil i visted Vilcambamba in the south of Ecuador. This is a small village at an altitude between 700 and 2028 above sea level and perfect for trekking tours.

Surrounding of Vilcabamba:

Top of Mt. Mandango with 2028 Metern.

Mountains around Vilcabamba

Different kinds of succulent plants adopted to the climate:

Of course i was looking for tarantulas while trecking. But also other arachnids like these scorpions live around Vilcabamba.

Only in Cactus trees it was possible to find this nice Argiope sp.

Concerning tarantulas i made a interesting discovery. Beneath stones i found this medium sized unknown Theraphosid.

Shelter of this species beneath a removed stone:

immature male:

Burrow of another unknown Theraphosid spider under a removed stone.

female

After seeing Vilcabamba i moved on to Loja and Zamora to visit the Podocarpus National Park. The Park is divided into two parts. Near Loja it consists mostly a landscape called Paramo with cold conditions while the part near Zamora is almost tropical with dense forest.

First i went to see the part around Loja.

Before reaching the Paramo one has to cross cloud forest.

The trees are covered with Epiphytes:

At higher altitude the vegetation changes quickly. Especially here in this cold area I found some interesting spider species.

Paramo:

Trekking at this altitude is rather exhausting...:

In silk covered burrows I discovered a large mygalomorph spider . It seems to be Linothele gaujoni which has been described from this area.

Burrow:

Linothele gaujoni

Because of the use of silk it was easy to differntiate the burrows of Linothele gaujoni from another ground living spider at this altitude. This Lycosidae sp. was very abundant in this area :

But I was also lucky to discover another unknown Theraphosid sp. a few km outside the Podocarpus NP at an altitude of around 2000 meters . I found this species in shallow pits under stones. Around Loja the species Cyclosternum gaujoni was described but it is not sure if this is really this species.

Habitat of this Theraphosidae sp.

After Loja I went to Zamora to see the other part of the National Park. Besides the park there is not much to do in this town. This is a view on the "main road " in the city center :

I did not find any tarantuals during my one day visit but anyways the nature was amazing. The trees are covered with different Epiphytes and moss:

I had to cross some hazardous looking bridges....

Due to the high amount of rainfall there are plenty of waterfalls

Forest, home to many spiders :

In the rain forest i found many funnel webs typical for Agelenidae which looked exactly the same but were occupied by two different spider species.

Most of the nets were occupied by this species:

But in between there was also another more colourful species:

It was also interesting to see that the first species carries its eggasc like a Lycosidae sp. :

There were hundreds of these spiders all over the forest:

Also different Gasteracantha and Micrathena sp. live at the Podocarpus NP

A amazing experience for me was to discover one of Ecuadors social spiders. At podocarpus i found Theridion nigroannulatum. It nice to see how hundreds of spiders share one nig net and work together to catch prey .

Besides spiders one of the most interesting animals are the leaf - cutter ants ( Atta sp. ). On the following video you can see how they transport fresh leaves inside and rubbish outside their nest.